The present invention relates to heat exchangers wherein the liquids utilized may be water, air or other suitable fluids in which the exchange of heat is desired.
Heretofore heat exchange systems have tended to be designed along the lines which make them highly inefficient. For instance, in the case of home heating systems and furnaces, the typical system comprises a burner which heats an heat exchange system which then transfers heat through the heat exchanger to ambient air flowing across the exchanger. As is commonly known, considerable heat is lost with the exchange since the heating gases flow rapidly across the heat exchanger and directly into the flue pipe, and are subsequently exhausted to the atmosphere. In these systems, the heat flows from a lower area to an upper area and generally relies upon convection currents to cause the flue gases to be exhausted. As can be appreciated, considerable heating value is lost through non-transference in the heat exchange as just described.
In the case of heating water for home use, or industrial use for that matter, a common system is to have an enclosed water tank in which are spiraled coils of tubing through which flows the water to be heated. At the lower most portion of the tank there is normally a burner whose heat is allowed to pass over the coils, thereby heating the water in the coils for use within the home. Again, as in the system of the home furnace, the heating value which is not transferred to the coils is exited at the top of the tank into the flue pipe and thence to the ambient atmosphere. As can be appreciated, such a system is inefficient because a great portion of the heating value is not transferred to the medium to be heated and consequently is lost directly to the atmosphere.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a heat exchange system having spiral tubing directly connected to the source of heat at one end and suction means at the other end of the tubing for drawing the exhaust gases through the tubing so as to heat the surrounding medium.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a heat exchange system which heats the medium to be heated from the top of the container containing the medium to the bottom thereof.
Another object of the invention is the provision of a heat exchanger using a plurality of spiral coils connected to a manifold through which heat is directly applied within the coils spiraling through a double tank separated near the midpoint defining a hot tank and a cold tank wherein the hot tank is used as a quick superheater while the bottom tank is utilized as a reserve tank.
Another object of the present invention is the provisision of a heat exchanger which operates as a hot air furnace utilizing the blower that blows hot air around the spiraled heating coils to also exhaust the heating coils to the ambient atmosphere.